These are 3D rendered images of my circuit breaker panel. There are obviously a number of differences from what is found in the real aircraft which I had to change to be a bit more practical for my simulator. Firstly, the real aircraft features a key lock starter switch with 5 positions. The positions are OFF, RIGHT, LEFT, BOTH and START. You can buy a similar starter from Simkits (www.simkits.com) but it turned out to be an expensive option. I decided to go for a similar system featured in my flight panel project (see my other blog for details on that) with the magnetos tied up to LEFT and RIGHT via toggle switches and push button START switch as used in some other Lycoming aircraft such as the American Champion Decathlon. OK it's not exactly that realistic but I decided against intergrating an expensive Simkits switch because of costs. The panel clearance is also thinner than the material I am using as well so it was a bit of a no brainer. It looks good and it's simple to operate as well!
I didn't have any way of replicating the circuit breakers like the type found in the real aircraft and I initially planned to make the panel the sama as the real one except with dummy push button switches that look like breakers. But it seemed such a waste to have so many buttons that could be used to operate the controls of FSX within the simulator rather then relying on a keyboard. So I began to work out which buttons I used the most and then started designing a flight simulator interface panel that wouldn't look out of place inside the cockpit. I left the fuse amp letting on the buttons to keep up the apperance of a circuit breaker panel. I put all of the slew mode buttons on the right hand side, with the familiar numpad setup of keyboard so they could be operated. Slew mode is a great way to re-position the aircraft to practice circuits or re-position the approach, so I think they will come in handy. The left side has a few various switches linked to relevant flight simulator interface commands such as pause and controls on/off. I also put in auto-start, auto-shutdown and all lights on/off just in case I am feeling lazy!
With this design of this panel I shifted the material from using 4mm aluminium (or a polycarbonate, I am not entirely sure yet, I am still a little worried about the weight of the switches and instruments as i found out in my previous project - one of the panels is very heavy) to go to 3mm instead. This is primarily because the push buttons replicating the breakers are manufactured to 3mm. I found them on Farnell they look like a very good match and are relatively cheap to buy.
I didn't have any way of replicating the circuit breakers like the type found in the real aircraft and I initially planned to make the panel the sama as the real one except with dummy push button switches that look like breakers. But it seemed such a waste to have so many buttons that could be used to operate the controls of FSX within the simulator rather then relying on a keyboard. So I began to work out which buttons I used the most and then started designing a flight simulator interface panel that wouldn't look out of place inside the cockpit. I left the fuse amp letting on the buttons to keep up the apperance of a circuit breaker panel. I put all of the slew mode buttons on the right hand side, with the familiar numpad setup of keyboard so they could be operated. Slew mode is a great way to re-position the aircraft to practice circuits or re-position the approach, so I think they will come in handy. The left side has a few various switches linked to relevant flight simulator interface commands such as pause and controls on/off. I also put in auto-start, auto-shutdown and all lights on/off just in case I am feeling lazy!
With this design of this panel I shifted the material from using 4mm aluminium (or a polycarbonate, I am not entirely sure yet, I am still a little worried about the weight of the switches and instruments as i found out in my previous project - one of the panels is very heavy) to go to 3mm instead. This is primarily because the push buttons replicating the breakers are manufactured to 3mm. I found them on Farnell they look like a very good match and are relatively cheap to buy.
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